Stoudamire’s Triple-Double Leads Raptors Past Sonics

Damon Stoudamire finds little difference between the NBA and college ball.

“In college, I was always a pretty good rebounder,” said Stoudamire, who played at Arizona. “In the NBA it’s no different. It all comes down to positioning and how much you want the ball.”

Stoudamire had positioning and the ball Tuesday night. He scored 20 points, grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and dished out 11 assists as the expansion Toronto Raptors beat the Seattle SuperSonics 102-97 for their third straight win.

Oliver Miller added a season-high 23 points for Toronto.

“This was really special tonight,” Miller said. “We played hard, executed and we got the win against a good team.”

Gary Payton scored a game-high 24 points and collected 11 assists for the SuperSonics, who led 58-57 at the half.

The Raptors, coming off their first road win, 103-102 over the Washington Bullets, took a 98-92 lead on Willie Anderson’s 3-pointer with 2:00 to play.

“They were giving me a lot of room, daring me to shoot,” said Anderson, who finished with 22 points. “In this league that’s a sign of disrespect. When they give me room like that I want the ball.”

Detlef Schremp, who scored 21 points, made a 3-pointer to close the gap to 98-95 with 1:48 left, and Hersey Hawkins followed with a jumper that pulled Seattle within a point with 1:15 remaining.

Stoudamire then made two free throws with 1:04 left and Anderson followed with a basket from 20 feet with 16 seconds to go.

“They outrebounded us,” Payton said. “When you get outworked on the boards, it makes it hard to win. We’re struggling right now and we have to find a solution. But right now we can’t worry about a solution because we don’t have time to think about it. Hopefully, this is as deep as we should fall. If we get any deeper, than it’ll be a big concern.”

“Toronto is a very good passing team,” Seattle coach George Karl said. “Brendan Malone has done a great job getting them together.”

Raptors 102, SuperSonics 97

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Schrempf 38 6-16 8-10 2-6 3 3 21 Kemp 36 6-15 6-9 1-8 1 5 18 Johnson 10 1-3 1-2 2-3 0 4 3 Hawkins 30 6-12 0-0 3-5 2 1 16 Payton 42 10-19 4-4 2-6 11 5 24 Perkins 27 0-3 2-2 1-3 1 2 2 McMillan 19 2-4 0-0 0-2 4 2 5 Askew 18 1-3 4-6 0-5 2 1 6 Brickowski 20 1-4 0-0 2-6 2 3 2 Totals 240 33-79 25-33 13-44 26 26 97

Percentages: FG .418, FT .758.

3-Point Goals: 6-20, .300 (Hawkins 4-7, McMillan 1-2, Schrempf 1-3, Brickowski 0-1, Payton 0-2, Askew 0-2, Perkins 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 3.

Blocked shots: 6 (Perkins 2, Kemp, Johnson, McMillan, Askew).

Turnovers: 18 (Hawkins 6, Kemp 4, Schrempf 3, Payton 2, Askew 2, McMillan).

Steals: 10 (Payton 4, McMillan 3, Schrempf, Kemp, Perkins).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None.

FG FT Reb TORONTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Anderson 30 9-18 3-7 3-4 3 3 22 Pinckney 22 1-6 0-0 7-11 0 2 2 Miller 34 9-17 5-5 4-8 5 3 23 Robertson 35 3-6 2-3 0-0 9 4 9 Stoudamire 44 6-17 5-6 0-12 11 4 20 Murray 21 3-9 1-2 0-4 3 1 7 Salley 26 4-7 1-2 0-3 4 4 9 Tabak 14 1-4 0-0 1-6 0 1 2 Rogers 14 4-5 0-2 1-1 1 3 8 Totals 240 40-89 17-27 16-49 36 25 102

Percentages: FG .449, FT .630.

3-Point Goals: 5-17, .294 (Stoudamire 3-9, Anderson 1-3, Robertson 1-4, Murray 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 17.

Blocked shots: 8 (Miller 4, Anderson 2, Robertson, Salley).

Turnovers: 17 (Stoudamire 6, Salley 3, Pinckney 2, Miller 2, Murray 2, Anderson, Rogers).

Steals: 11 (Miller 4, Stoudamire 4, Salley 2, Robertson).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: None. Seattle 31 27 21 18 - 97 Toronto 27 30 25 20 - 102

A-21,836 (20,049). T-2:17.

Officials-Dick Bavetta, Paul Mihalak, Tony Brothers.